The Inverted House
opals. They lay carelessly about on ebony tables as though they were of little value."
"The jades," declared Yuan Shi Kai, "are by far the best in my collection, not because of their intrinsic value but because of the variance of the countless specimens. I have jadeites and nephrites in a hundred different tones of color. Here are snow-white jades and jades that are blacker than tropic night, jades with sepia and orange veins like unto marble, rare gray jades, and yellow-ochre jades, besides jades in sixty shades of green. I have green jades to match the leaves of every tree. Some are far more gorgeous than emeralds. Nor are jades the only things that I possess in profusion. Here are opals that contain more fire than the stars, opals that match the rainbow in the softness of their colors. However I did not bring you here to view my gems but for a far more important purpose. But come, let us rest as we talk."
As Ras Orla sank onto a divan, he breathed softly of the oddly perfumed air.
"The breath of the flowers even penetrates unto here," he mused.
"That is not true," replied Yuan Shi Kai slowly. "The fragrance that arrests your attention is the fragrance of jewels. Do not smile at the term for I assure you the ancients were aware that jewels exhale a fragrance as surely as flowers though in a far milder form. For centuries certain jewels have been described for certain ailments. Was there not a famous Egyptian who
61
